ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the research evidence on learning by teaching, in order to highlight some principles that derive from it that can help teachers to learn by teaching. It uses the classic distinction between pre-activities, inter-activities and post-activities to highlight actions that can help teachers to learn by teaching. The role of the teacher is to know what the students know, their previous knowledge or level of actual development (LAD), and what they can get to know with the help of others – their level of potential development (LPD) – by managing scaffolding and support within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), which will progressively be withdrawn as students increase their LAD. In classrooms, this explanation of learning and the facilitator role of the teacher require the development of adapted assistance, responding to these zones of development, and therefore begin with the initial assessment of the students.
